If you’re still plugging away at your new year’s resolutions, good for you. In a survey of more than 3,000 British adults, nearly 75 percent said that they had given up on their resolutions by January 10. If you’re hanging in there, just make sure you’re aiming for a target that’s worth hitting. Here are three new year’s resolutions it’s ok to kick to the curb, home inspectors.
Resolution #1: To Do More With Less
Efficiency is awesome, but only if you can do it with some sense of sanity. If you’re trying to up your home inspection clientele by multitasking, you’re barking up the wrong tree. According to new research by the University of Utah, people who believe that they are effective multitaskers are the same people who are least able to do it.
The new findings piggyback on a study we explored in the last Tap Inspect newsletter which shows that the human brain can actually only devote space to five to nine things at a given time, which means that if you’re typing an invoice while chatting with a client by phone while thinking about upcoming dinner plans, at least one isn’t going to get the attention it needs.
What To Do Instead
Instead of tackling everything at once, create a daily schedule that groups like activities together. That will save your brain from switching from one activity to something totally different several times a day.
Resolution #2: To Keep Control
Your home inspection business is your baby which is of course why you want a hand in every single decision, but actually, choices could be bringing you down. Research shows that humans have a limited capacity for making decisions. If we’re presented with too many choices throughout the day, we suffer “decision fatigue” and tend to make reckless choices just to get the job done. That could explain why people tend to overspend on major, decision-heavy events like weddings and moving.
What To Do Instead
For home inspectors, property managers and anyone else who runs a small business, every day is chock full of stressful decisions. Instead of stressing about every little thing, make some choices ahead of time and have a snack. To reduce decision fatigue, leaders like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and President Obama wear basically the same outfit and eat the same basic things everyday to eliminate those daily decisions and leave time to ponder more pressing matters. Something sweet can also help. Studies show that giving your body a small dose of sugar can boost willpower and reduce decision fatigue.
Resolution #3: Keep To Do Lists
There’s a reason that your To Do list is never quite finished. According to the Harvard Business Review, to do lists are doomed to fail because they encourage you to do the shortest tasks first (to feel that awesome sense of achievement) and keep you from tackling the harder, more time-consuming tasks you really need to get done.
What To Do Instead
Some business experts advocate the “Eat That Frog!” philosophy. If you start off each day by doing the hardest thing first, productivity will ultimately increase. A simpler way is to create a To Don’t list instead that highlights things you’ll purposefully avoid doing during the day like answering personal e-mail, surfing the web or taking a leisurely lunch. By thinking about the time-wasting traps you’re going to actively avoid, you’ll have more time to think about the things that really need to get done.
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